Well it turned out that the excursion this weekend was really fun and interesting. We visited more than just Santa Clara--also Sancti Espiritus, Trinidad and Cienfuegos.
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Yesterday in classed I talked a little bit with Irene Yoon, a student in my class of about 40 years who is from South Korea. She has been studying Spanish at the University for eight months, and like the other Chinese students that I've met here, she didn't know any Spanish before she came. I was surprised when she told me that she's been here eight months and isn't planning to leave--she told me that she's a Methodist missionary and going to live here with her husband. I asked her how she chose Cuba, and she told me that she chose it because there aren't any other Methodist missionaries here yet.
Today class was really boring because we are still learning the same three grammatical forms we've been working on for the last three days. We practiced things like: "If I were president, I would..." and "If I had drunk a lot last night I would have done..." [in Spanish, obviously]. I understood it the first day so now I feel like we're beating a dead horse and I don't want to be in class anymore.
Brittany, Madison and I ate lunch at Habana Pizza (the same place I ate yesterday), and while we were eating we saw Pepe. Duane went to Varadero on Monday and was going to come back today but he missed too many things during the time he was gone (it was against the rules to go somewhere overnight anyway) so now he's getting kicked out and has to go back to the US. Pepe has to do a lot of paperwork about it now too. I don't know what Duane expected, but I'm sure he isn't happy. I'm curious about what happened and hope to learn more tomorrow. I feel a little bad for Duane though, it would suck to get sent home! Class today was going by very slowly again until Arturo, one of the Angolan guys, announced that it was his birthday. We sang to him, but in English because apparently it's easier to sing "Happy Birthday" than "Felicidades". Then he and a German girl (Anna, I think) went to the store and came back with beer. I drank some of one but it was a Cristal and so not very good. I think Mayabe and Bucanero, the other two big ones here, are better. The class was more fun after the beers. ;) We listened to a song by Zona de Gente called "Si fueras mia" and then we practiced the grammatical structures that are in the song.
Today we had a different professor (Lisandra) and I missed Virginia because she's really fun and the class is less boring with her. Today class went very slowly, although I made a new friend. Her name is Lisa and she's from China. She has been studying Spanish in Cuba for three months and she has three more months. She has traveled around Cuba a little and told me about Cojimar, Varadero, and Isla de la Juventud. I thought it was funny how much she likes lobsters, and managed to mention them when she talked about each of the three places I just mentioned. We talked about Cuba, travel and class and I had a lot of fun getting to know her.
Today we went to Viñales. Unfortunately it wasn't as interesting as Soroa and the trip was longer--about 2.5 hours there and another 2.5 hours back.
We stopped for a break along the way and I bought a Cuban flag (because today is Flag Day in the US! haha) and a little seahorse carved from wood. Pepe gave us a pretty entertaining nature lesson using that seahorse. Then, after about another hour, we arrived in Viñales. First we stopped at the best view of the landscape and the mogotes, which are the distinctive limestone hills around the area. I took pictures and bought an opalite (a type of glass that looks somewhat like moonstone) ring for my cocktail ring collection. It was a little pricey at 25CUC, but I really liked it and I haven't found any other stone jewelry here. [And I didn't find any for the rest of my trip--gemstones aren't a big priority to the Cuban government, or the people, because they make approximately $30/month.] Today we spent the day at Soroa National Park. The trip was by bus and very early this morning. It was good though, because the landscape was really beautiful--with carts and horses, palms, cows and even some mountains--and Madison and I talked about all sorts of things on the drive.
When we arrived the first thing we wanted to do was see the waterfall. Duane, Pepe, Madison and I changed into bathing suits, but Pepe and the other girls left before we were done, so Duane, Madison, and I went together. It was a really pretty, short hike to the cascade and only costed 3CUC/person. |
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